Jurors hear grandmother's frantic 911 call

The 15-minute recording was played as the trial of Barbara Hershey got under way. She is accused of the shaking death of her 4-month-old grandson.

Jessica Pierce

Barbara Hershey was frantic and hard to understand. She screamed over and over, "He's not breathing, he's not breathing!"

With a steady voice, Ontario County 911 dispatcher Kathleen Anderson told Hershey she was having trouble hearing her and that she needed more information to help.
Hershey yelled into the phone: "My grandson — he's not breathing!"

The grandson, 4-month-old Ethan Hershey, was drinking his bottle when he suddenly went limp and stopped breathing, Hershey told the dispatcher through sobs while an ambulance was on its way to her home on South Street in Gorham at 11:30 a.m. Oct. 25, 2005.

The recording of the 15-minute 911 call was played for 12 jurors in an Ontario County courtroom Tuesday morning as Hershey's trial got under way. The 67-year-old is charged with second-degree manslaughter for allegedly causing Ethan's death by violently shaking him while caring for him in her home.

Actually, the recorded 911 call was the second one involving Hershey and the 911 center. Less than a minute earlier, she had called 911 but hung up. The dispatcher then called the home back.

Anderson explained to Hershey how to breathe air into the baby's lungs and how to try to get his heart pumping again with chest compressions. Sometimes, Anderson counted out loud from one to 15 to help guide Hershey through the resuscitation.

Hershey had to stop several times to clear vomit from the baby's mouth. "Oh my God!" she screamed at one point.

Doctors told police and prosecutors that the infant, who lingered about three weeks on life support at Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong, had suffered closed-head trauma — bleeding on the brain and retinal hemorrhaging.

"The medical evidence you will hear does not allege that she intended to kill the baby," District Attorney R. Michael Tantillo told jurors in his opening statements just before the 911 recording was played. "It alleges that she recklessly caused his death. No one here claims she was a monster."

Tantillo told jurors to pay close attention to two things Hershey told the 911 dispatcher: "He has been crying all morning" and "He keeps crying."

Shaken-baby syndrome — which, according to prosecutors, caused Ethan's death — is most often triggered by frustration over "constant crying by a baby," Tantillo said.

Ethan's parents, David and Amanda Hershey, do not believe Barbara — called Grandma Barb by their daughter, Anna, now 4 — hurt Ethan. They were among Tantillo's first witnesses, however, and both testified that Ethan was fussy and prone to bouts of unexplained crying, unlike Anna when she was the same age.

Amanda Hershey said the day Ethan was taken to Thompson Hospital from her in-laws' home started off routine, other than the fact that one of their vehicles was in the shop for repairs and her husband was recovering from knee surgery.

She said she got up about 5:30 a.m. and nursed Ethan, then put him back to sleep while she got ready for work — she was a nurse at Thompson at the time.

"I remember him smiling while he was sleeping, actually," she told Tantillo, recalling that morning. "He was peaceful."

The couple packed up the children in their vehicle, and David dropped off his wife at Thompson. He then took Ethan and Anna to his father and stepmother's home. In addition to Ethan and Anna, Barbara Hershey was watching two other youngsters, a 7-month-old and a 4-year-old.

After Ethan arrived at Thompson — unable to breathe on his own and in cardiac arrest — Barbara Hershey told the infant's parents what she told the 911 dispatcher and police and Social Services investigators: that the infant suddenly and mysteriously stopped breathing.

Barbara Hershey was accompanied in court Tuesday by several family members, including her husband, Daniel. In the days ahead, her attorney, Lawrence Andolina, is expected to call medical experts to the stand who will argue that the baby could have had an undiagnosed medical condition, and he will introduce recent studies that will question whether the injuries Ethan suffered could have been caused by shaking.

Tantillo repeatedly drew attention to the fact that Ethan appeared healthy and happy when he was dropped off at Barbara Hershey's home by his father. But Andolina dwelled on complications with Amanda Hershey's pregnancy. An ultrasound when she was 20 weeks pregnant showed what appeared to by a cyst on Ethan's brain. It did not appear on a subsequent ultrasound conducted by doctors at Strong, however.

Andolina also pointed out that Amanda Hershey tested positive for an infection and had to receive intravenous antibiotics for four hours before she could give birth. And he drew attention to the fact that Ethan had received routine vaccinations days before he was taken to the hospital.

All told, Tantillo called nine witnesses to the stand Tuesday, including family members, police, a Social Services investigator, an emergency-room doctor and two ambulance volunteers who took Ethan to Thompson. Wednesday's lineup of witnesses is expected to include more police officers and doctors who treated Ethan at Strong.

The trial might not wrap up until sometime next week. If she is found guilty, Barbara Hershey faces a maximum of five to 15 years in prison.

Jessica Pierce can be reached at (585) 394-0770, Ext. 250, or at
jpierce@mpnewspapers.com.